Balan Wonderworld Reviews
Balan Wonderworld feels like an early PlayStation 1 platformer that has been given a next-generation splash of paint, a game that is as needlessly confusing as it is irritatingly simplistic. The gameplay is counter-intuitive to everything that you've been taught by other games over the years, which shockingly feels lazy, rather than ambitious. Balan Wonderworld is a lesson in how a video game can go completely wrong, missing every target it attempts to hit.
It is not often that I feel lost for words when reviewing a game but Balan Wonderworld has almost left me speechless. There is so much wrong with this game that it is a wonder that it has passed any sort of quality control. The controls are stiffer than a board, the lack of any narrative is frustrating and the game is just so badly put together that I cannot think of any reason why I would recommend this to anyone at all. Overall Balan Wonderworld is possibly one of the most disappointing games I have played on Nintendo Switch. What were they thinking of when creating this game? Very little it would seem and far from being a world of wonder, this is a total nightmare.
Balan Wonderworld is just plain bad. Apart from its terrible costume system, it does nothing new and just poorly copies things that other 3D platformers have already done better.
The kindest thing I can say about the game is that it does make for an entertaining livestream. I broadcasted my play on Twitch, and my audience seemed to really enjoy watching me suffer. So I guess this is a great one for all those fans of masochism out there.
If only Naka, staying true to form, had given the whole thing a dose of high speed; his work only holds together when it hurtles past our eyes, growing vivid with velocity.
Balan Wonderworld is not comfortable or fun to play. It isn’t memorable. If you want to understand everything happening, you have to buy the ebook and go to that outside source for an explanation. It is bland, repetitious, and has design choices that are the opposite of ensuring a good quality of life.
With a price point of $60, it's hard to recommend Balan Wonderworld, especially when other platformers (and even collections such as Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which contain multiple games) are a lot cheaper and are much better. The ingredients are all there for a great game, but everything has gone off and rotten. What's been cooked up is a bland, uninspired trip into a world that should have been anything but. Balan Wonderworld feels like bargain bin material that should be avoided at all costs... at any discount.
Wonder how a very well known publisher could stomach having it in their library. Wonder what in the world happened with the Switch version. Wonder where your $60 went.
Balan Wonderworld tries to be an homage to nostalgic platformers from the PS2 era, but it forgets to be a good game in the process.
I understand that Balan Wonderworld wasn't made with me in mind – clearly it's meant for a far younger demographic. But even from an objective standpoint, I can't figure out why anyone would want to voluntarily sink hours of their life into such an annoying and incoherent game.
Balan Wonderworld is a hodge-podge of half-formed platforming ideas that squander a whole lot of charm.
We're not going to mince words here, Balan Wonderworld is a waste of your time. Monotonous level design, awful performance, and shallow gameplay combine to make for an experience that is simply not fun to play. It may look pretty (when it's framerate isn't chugging), but there simply isn't enough good content here to justify your time or money, and this is doubly true when you take into account that this is a full-priced retail release. If you're looking for a good 3D platformer for your Switch, this most definitely isn't it.
Balan Wonderworld stands out as easily one of the worst 3D platformers in the past decade. There was no good reason for Square Enix and Yuji Naka to salvage this train wreck and it's an embarrassment that this game was allowed to be released at all in its current state. When the game's only redeeming qualities are some good music and neat DualSense features, something clearly went wrong here. There is no doubt that Balan Wonderworld should've remained locked up in the game design vault it was conceived in twenty years ago.
Outside of its design, I struggle to find anything praiseworthy about Wonderworld. It is an unfortunate example of inspiration exceeding innovation, and is borderline unplayable on Switch.
Balan Wonderworld is a boring, dull and dated platformer presented in a beautiful package to persuade parents who are looking to buy a game for their children.
Review in Persian | Read full review
It pains me to say this, but all the color and character in the world—and even the legendary pedigree of developers Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima—cannot save this outdated, uninspired, and just plain boring platformer.
For better or worse, Balan Wonderworld feels like an HD take on a PS2-era platformer. As long as you manage your expectations accordingly and accept the limitations that come with this, there's some enjoyment to be had with it. By modern standards, however, the game falls far short of expectations.
Balan Wonderworld is definitely better than people say, but that doesn't mean it's good. If you are looking for a game for your children or you really want a new title, which 100% completion is very insidious, you can try it. In any case, take into account that most of the game is simply boring and does not offer anything downright interesting.
Review in Czech | Read full review
All in all, Balan Wonderworld just wasn’t the game for me. The gameplay was tedious, the story was all over the place and the mechanics belonged to either a prehistoric or an unfinished game. To be quite honest, I’d say that the price to get into Balan Wonderworld is too high for an experience with the quality too low.